Grapple
by Hadican
Summary: His arms were burning as they dangled there above that pit. Red Hood was unconscious and his grapple gun was jammed. Tonight just wasn't Tim's night. Two Shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** A simple one shot. I should stick with one shots, I at least finish those...Still not sure if I'm doing well with characterization, but here we have Jason and Tim. Hopefully they aren't too out of character.

* * *

His grip tightened on the grapple gun as he dangled helplessly above a pit left from construction for a basement, Red Hood hanging limply from his other hand. God this was painful. Tim bit his lip, trying not to think too much about how badly his arms were protesting at being stretched out so far by the older man's weight. He could hear the revving of the grapple gun as it tried to retract and bring them back up to safety, but it appeared to be jammed now. He tried to remember when that may have happened, but he couldn't lose focus now.

To think things had started out fairly normal until he'd got caught up into Red Hood's business. In his defense he actually hadn't been in the Hood's territory. The outskirts, yes, but far enough not to draw any attention. He'd followed a lead there and well...things just sort of escalated from there as it turned out the guy he was trying to apprehend had also pissed off the older vigilante not too long ago.

So a truce had been arranged by some miracle and then he found himself here. The target was currently splattered on the ground below them and Jason had been knocked out by a stun grenade the sneaky crook had been packing. To make matters worse his momentum had been too great so both had been sent careening over the edge of the pit. Tim had managed to bring out a line and snag a hold of the back of Hood's jacket which was still holding firm to its owner by some miracle.

There was no way he could swing back and forth with both their weight combined like this and managed to get safely to a ledge. He glanced over to where he'd thought about swinging to earlier due to its closer proximity, but upon further inspection he noted that there was no way the wood there could hold both their weight. Nor could he lay Hood down until he was conscious again on such a tiny space anyway.

He gritted his teeth and bit back a groan of pain as Hood moved.

"Hood, stop moving," he said between his teeth and the older vigilante stilled.

"Shit..." Hood muttered as he realized what had happened and despite himself Tim grinned.

"My sentiments exactly," he managed. "Do you have a grapple gun on you by chance?"

There was a moment of silence that did not bode well with Red Robin.

"Hood?"

"Give me a second," the older vigilante groused. The rustling sound bounced off the hollow inside of the building. "Shit, it must have fallen out."

"Perfect," Tim groaned, his fingers becoming numb around the grapple gun.

"Anything we can swing to?"

"I've managed to scope out several areas, but even with both of us working to get to them they're too far away," he informed, before looking towards the other ledge. "That one over there seems to be our best option, but there isn't enough room."

"Well, you better figure out something soon," Jason said, and Tim let out a irritated huff. Why was it up to him to figure out how they were going to get out of this situation? "Preferably before we become pavement pancakes."

"I didn't have to catch you, you know," Tim muttered, and then felt Jason shift. He about lost his grip on the grapple gun and bit back another retort.

"Nah, you're too much of a goody-two shoes," Hood said, and Tim huffed. Well, hell, that was kind of a compliment right? Even if it was said in a somewhat snide way. He'd take it. "I have a plan."

That threw him off, and here he was thinking it was going to be all up to him to figure out how to keep them from dying.

"You're not going to like it," Jason said, and Tim looked down at him. It was impossible to read Jason's eyes with that helmet on and the younger vigilante swallowed thickly. Suddenly he felt Jason's hand grip his utility belt and flinched. "Keep calm."

Using the utility belt as a hand hold he reached up, gripping Tim's shoulder. The teen's hand remained firmly gripping the Hood's jacket incase he lost his grip, but his hand was shaking. He felt Hood's hand enclose around the one firmly gripping the grapple gun.

"Okay, you can let go now," he said and Tim's eyes widened behind the lenses of his mask.

"No...I really can't," he said, licking his lips nervously. He felt Hood's fingers tighten around his hand and he wasn't sure if it was meant to loosen his hand more or to reassure him. Probably the former.

"You're just going to have to trust me on this one," Jason said, the whites of his mask boring into Tim's. He looked away and down to the ground. All options were out the window and as he looked at the broken body beneath them he decided to actually put his trust in the man who'd tried to kill him.

"Okay..." he whispered, and loosened his hand. For a moment he was weightless and about panicked. Over his head he heard, "Trust me, kid." And then the weightlessness was gone and he found an arm looping around his middle. Okay, they changed positions somewhat, but-

His heart jumped into his throat as Hood detached the grapple from the beam. He was used to free falling, but usually he initiated his own free falls. His heart proceeded to plummet to his stomach as he saw the ground, much closer than it had been seconds prior.

"This is gonna be a bit rough," the older vigilante muttered. Tim felt his eyes close despite himself and heard the telltale noise of the grapple gun firing. He prayed that the grapple gun wouldn't jam again. Wind rushed up to meet them and in the next second they were smashing into the ground. Though a bit rattled the teen opened his eyes to find Hood looking down at him from a crouched position. "Still alive?"

"Yeah," he said, and took the hand that was offered to him. The armor underneath his Red Robin guise took the brunt of the impact. The two stood and a bit of awkward silence hug between them. "So...um..."

"Let's not make a habit of this," Hood said, and Tim tried not to flinch at his dismissive tone. Well, this was to be expected right? Jason hated him and Tim...well Tim couldn't say he hated him. He avoided him like the plague yes, but that was more out of fear and self preservation. "Don't think Dickie-Bird would be happy if you got broken on my watch."

That had been unexpected.

"He'd be upset about both of us becoming, er, pavement pancakes," Tim said using Hood's earlier descriptor as he glanced to the side. Man was it hard to tell what the Hood was thinking with that mask of his, you couldn't see anything whatsoever. This probably wasn't the best time to discuss things but he figured he should at least extend the invitation. "This...this Saturday there is going to be a barbecue...do you, uh...want to come?"

That had probably been a bad move, but, well, at least he'd tried. He continued to talk. A nervous tick.

"I mean, well Dick was thinking of asking you one of these days, but I thought since I was here and all..."

"We'll see baby bird," Tim blinked a few times at that. It was strange to hear Jason use Dick's nickname for him, but it didn't bug him as much as he thought it would. Guess near death experiences with someone really did change some dynamics. Even if it was only for a short while. The older of the two turned before he spoke again, "Now fly on home. I'll take care of things here."

He about protested, but closed his mouth and nodded. Hood tossed him his grapple gun over his shoulder.

"Make sure that thing gets fixed." The teen looked down at the grapple gun and noticed a small hole in the side where the gears had been stuck. Whatever had been used had managed to get them working again. When had he...? Shaking his head he chalked that up to resourcefulness on Hood's part. He never figured the older vigilante as one to carry a "dainty" fire arm, but the size and lack of noise suggested otherwise. Risky move, but that had been better than trying nothing and getting killed anyway tonight.

"Right..." He finally said after calculating all of that within a matter of seconds. With that he walked out of the construction site, using a makeshift staircase to get out of the basement. Clicking on his communicator he was bombarded by a worried Dick Grayson. "Hey, yeah, got a bit caught up with something. I'm alright though. By the way...we might have a surprise for the barbecue this Saturday. There's no way I'm telling you. That will ruin the surprise. Pouting doesn't really work over the communicator Nightwing."

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 _End_


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Looks like the one shot finally became a two shot. Originally I wasn't going to bother, but I figured it was a good chance to try my hand at the other characters and interactions between them. Hopefully I did an adequate job, but I'm still learning. At any rate, enjoy.

* * *

"Jason..." Bruce said in awe, looking up from the grill to see his second oldest standing in the backyard with his hands in his pockets and an aloof expression on his face. "What are you-"

"Jaybird!" Dick suddenly shouted and before either one could say much else Jason was on the ground with an overly exuberant older brother choking the life out of him. This was not a hug it was boarding very closely to suffocation.

"Damn it Dick, get the hell off!" he groused while he still had the oxygen for it.

"So this was the surprise Timmy was talking about!" Dick said, standing up and extending his hand to help Jason back to his feet. The younger of the two dusted himself off and was pretty close to cuffing his older brother for knocking him down like he had. It was a good thing that Dick had a sparkling personality.

"Jason," the two eldest looked over to see Tim in the doorway with ketchup and mustard in either hand, a shocked expression on his face. "...You showed up."

"Well, when you invite someone you should expect them to show up," Jason groused and Tim shook his head as he placed the condiments on the table.

"No, I didn't mean anything by it, I just-"

"I know what you meant," he said, waving his hand dismissively at the younger man. It was around Tim's arrival that Jason smelt something burning followed by a British accented exclamation.

"Master Wayne, my goodness, you are burning the burgers!" Alfred remarked as he walked outside with the platter that would house the finished patties. The billionaire startled and finally flipped over the burgers, but the damage had already been done. One side was most definitely going to taste like ash.

"Pennyworth will never let you help with cooking again, Father," Damian said, trailing after the butler with Alfred the cat in his arms.

"Damian, no animals while we eat," Dick said, and was rewarded with a 'tt' before the youngest walked back towards the mansion with his cat. Jason watched the kid before he felt hands on his shoulders and he was moved towards the butler. "Look Alfred!"

"Oh my, it is wonderful to see you Master Jason," the butler said, smiling warmly at the second oldest. Jason awkwardly waved at him.

"Good to see you too, Alfred," he said, trying to halfheartedly get out of Dick's grasp. His older brother released him and he stuck his hands in his pockets feeling more awkward the longer he stayed here. It had been so long and to be here now it just felt...sensing Jason's tension Alfred piped up as he arranged everything on the table.

"Master Richard could you please make sure Master Damian has put his cat in his room and washed up?" Alfred requested, not wanting cat fur to get into any of the food.

"Sure," Dick said before heading into the house.

"Oh, and Master Timothy could you go and get the cheese, I seem to have forgotten it," Alfred asked, and the third oldest disappeared inside the manor.

The young man watched as Alfred walked over and shooed Bruce away from the grill and took over from there. Without that task to keep Bruce at bay the billionaire walked over and stopped several feet away from his second oldest.

They stared at each other awkwardly for a good minute before either spoke.

"So," Jason began trying to cut through the awkward air that hung between them and Bruce seemed to brace himself. More than likely he was bracing for harsh words to be spoken and Jason would be lying if he didn't think that would be the outcome of this conversation. "How...has it been?"

"Ah, good," he said, but it sounded more like a question rather than a statement. "And yourself?"

"Good, good," he said, not really wanting to delve too deeply into his activities with the man that would never approve of his methods. "Been kind of quiet lately."

Which was true. The only excitement he had, had was when he had chased down that rat with the help of Tim. The clean-up had taken longer than he thought it would have too. There had been a point where he had to hide along with the body while some security guards checked the perimeter. Where had those ass-hats been earlier? Lazing about more than likely.

Once he was able to properly dispose of the body things had calmed down. Nobody was even looking for him.

"Jason," his attention was brought back to the conversation at hand. "I-"

He raised his hand and that silenced his adoptive father instantly.

"Let's see if we can make it through this barbecue first," he said, and for once there was no argument from Bruce.

"That would be acceptable," he said, and turned to see how the burgers were coming along. Alfred was currently trying to salvage what he could but it was clear that less than half of the patties were safe enough to eat. Unless everyone liked the taste of charcoal.

"You really suck at cooking," Jason remarked, patting Bruce on the shoulder as he went to sit down. The billionaire had the decency to wince at that jab. Taking a seat at the table it wasn't long before he was joined by the others and they all managed to have a semi-decent afternoon of food and conversations.

The burgers still tasted funny despite Alfred doctoring them up, Dick hugged him at every opportunity, and Bruce would glance over at him every so often as if he thought his second eldest's appearance was an illusion. He even had a conversation with both Tim and Damian that was surprisingly pleasant and didn't induce rage. Not that he had as much ire for his replacement as he used to and he had only met Damian a hand full of times. Though the kid was obviously a snotty little brat. At one point he looked over at Bruce and quirked a brow, his father's son indeed.

It wasn't long before they all had finished their food or at least what parts they were willing to eat and parted ways. Alfred headed in first with dishes, and both Dick and Damian trailed after. Tim was currently recollecting the condiments and it wasn't long before Jason was left alone with Bruce.

"I'll see you around," Jason said, waving and going to make his way back to his territory. A hand on his shoulder stopped him, but only because he allowed it. Without even meaning to he tensed and Bruce let him go instantly. He waited for the older man to say something, but didn't bother to turn and face him.

"Thank you for coming," he heard Bruce murmur.

"Thank Tim," Jason said, waving his hand dismissively. "The kid was the one who invited me."

"He did? When?" Ah shit. He cleared his throat but remained facing away from the billionaire.

"Couple days ago. We ended up teaming up, got our jobs done, and parted ways."

 _Don't ask anymore than that, Bruce, it's none of your business._ He finally began walking again before glancing back at Bruce. "Oh yeah, make sure that kid got his grapple gun fixed. See you."

And with that he made his way back to his territory.

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 _End_


End file.
